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Kentucky · Nonprofit

LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA

LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA (Kentucky) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,803 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($1,303). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$1.1M
Funders on record
3
Grants received
$2k
Net assets
$1.9M
1/3 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 0%
01What it does

What Linguistic Society of America does

Mission

The society's primary purpose is the advancement of the scientific study of language. The society serves its members through scholarly meetings, publications, and special activities designed to advance the discipline.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Annual meeting - the society conducts an annual meeting to provide a forum for members and others working in the field of linguistics to discuss issues related to the discipline.

    $405,655 spent$304,363 earned by the program
    56% of program spending
  2. Publications - the society publishes scholarly journals which detail developments in the scientific study of language.

    $192,502 spent$254,501 earned by the program
    27% of program spending
  3. Membership services and other programs - the society provides support to the membership through education, information, communication, and discussion of issues and topics related to linguistics. The society also has a wide range of resources available to various audiances, and works in partnership with many other organizations to promote resources for the entire linguistic community.

    $123,649 spent$226,975 earned by the program
    17% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $721,806.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($968k) Expenses 100 ($874k) Net assets 100 ($2.0M)2018 Revenue 107 ($1.0M) Expenses 101 ($878k) Net assets 106 ($2.1M)2019 Revenue 129 ($1.3M) Expenses 126 ($1.1M) Net assets 110 ($2.2M)2020 Revenue 89 ($862k) Expenses 124 ($1.1M) Net assets 102 ($2.0M)2021 Revenue 108 ($1.0M) Expenses 90 ($783k) Net assets 126 ($2.5M)2022 Revenue 126 ($1.2M) Expenses 143 ($1.2M) Net assets 104 ($2.1M)2023 Revenue 74 ($713k) Expenses 130 ($1.1M) Net assets 87 ($1.7M)2024 Revenue 129 ($1.2M) Expenses 147 ($1.3M) Net assets 95 ($1.9M)2025 Revenue 114 ($1.1M) Expenses 131 ($1.1M) Net assets 95 ($1.9M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (114)Expenses (131)Net assets (95)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $2.5M to $3.0M (+21%).

$2.4M
$2.5M
$2.7M
$2.5M
$3.0M
$2.6M
$2.3M
$2.6M
$2.6M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 6% · 2018 2% · 2020 5% · 2021 7% · 2022 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

12% of LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$94k
’17
$159k
’18
$153k
’19
−$217k
’20
$259k
’21
−$29k
’22
−$425k
’23
−$39k
’24
−$35k
’25
1.3
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

Margaret Vitullo

Executive director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed131212131212161313
Joined·+5+4+3+7+4+12+1+9
No longer listed·64284849
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $500 → $172.

Funder
'18
'20
'21
'22
'23
'26*
total
funders
1
1
1
1
1
1

2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 2 of 3 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

72% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA.

72%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

Where its funders are

72% of LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $500 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Kentucky, across 1 state.

WA

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $2k to it.

Operating margin−3% · below the median
Months of reserve1.3mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)2% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $600 on record.

State$600
Top programs
  • Advertising$600

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Kentucky

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

63% of spending goes to programs.

Program 63%Management 36%Fundraising 0%

Governance

12
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

74%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

KY
DC

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA?
LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA (Kentucky) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,803 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($1,303). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA have?
IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $1,803 in grants to LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA?
AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,303 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 3 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing